There is a Teacher in Everyone
by ladypatpatriot
Summary: A new family arrives in Hope Valley just days before Christmas. What do the residents learn from them? A different kind of holiday story
1. Chapter 1

It was the middle of December and extremely cold weather had settled itself upon Hope Valley. Constable Jack Thornton was hurrying to grab blankets to put in the buggy he had ready to take him and his wife, Elizabeth to the Coulter's house for dinner. He wasn't concerned about the cold for himself; as a Mountie, he was used to being out in all kinds of weather. He was worried about Elizabeth. She had just given him the best Christmas gift he would ever receive in his whole life; she recently found out she's pregnant. She tended to feel the cold more than he did and he wanted to make sure she would be warm enough for the ride to their friends.

While Jack was getting the buggy ready, Elizabeth rushed around the bedroom getting ready. She had been so tired when she got home from school that she had laid down to rest her eyes but she ended up falling asleep. Jack had been expecting to find her already dressed when he got home from work but ended up finding her still napping. He had wanted to cancel the dinner, saying she obviously needed the rest, but she convinced him she was fine. Plus she knew Rosemary would understand their reason for being late, being that she was three months from having a baby herself. It excited her to know that their children would be friends growing up.

Elizabeth walked into the living to find Jack pacing the floor. "Pacing already Jack? If you are doing this now what are you going to be like when I'm in labor?"

Jack turned to face her, mesmerized by beauty. She was wearing a festive green dress with holly berries on it. "You look stunning, Sweetheart. Absolutely beautiful." He walked to her side and took her coat from her. He helped her put it on then extended his arm for her.

"Thank you Jack, for the compliment and the help with my coat." They walked outside and she immediately shivered.

Jack felt the shiver and moved closer to Elizabeth. "Maybe we shouldn't go. It's too cold and I don't want you to get sick." He started to turn around to bring her back inside but she stopped him.

"Jack, I'll be fine. If I know you the way I think I do, you have blankets in the buggy all ready for me. I want to go." She continued to walk towards the steps of their front porch.

Jack hurried to her side and helped her walk down. Then he helped her get settled in the buggy, wrapping two blankets around her. "If you feel like you are still not warm enough, there are more blankets in the back."

"Thank you." She smiled to herself over how much more over protective Jack had become since she told him she was pregnant. She knew he would be and prepared herself for it.

Soon they arrived at the Coulter house. Jack got out and tied the horse to the post out front, then hurried to help Elizabeth down. They walked up to the door and as Jack was about to knock the door opened. Lee appeared and welcomed them in. Rosemary joined him in the entry way while Lee helped with their coats.

"Sorry we're late." Elizabeth said to Rosemary. "I was so tired when I got home from school that I fell asleep."

Rosemary nodded and smiled. "I know that feeling. I was the same when I was first pregnant. Now I wish I could take those afternoon cat naps. The baby loves to be active when I want to sleep, but it's a wonderful feeling."

Elizabeth returned the grin. "I can't wait to feel that." She felt Jack's arm on her shoulder and she turned to him. He was smiling too.

They followed Lee and Rosemary to the dining room and sat down at the table. Their hosts went to the kitchen and a few moments later brought out dinner. Soon they were all eating and talking about the news about town.

"Elizabeth you are going to be getting a couple of more students in the next week or so." Lee told her.

"Really? Who are they?"

"I hired an assistant manager to help me out at the mill. He came highly recommended from one of my former business associates. He has a wife and two children, a boy and a girl."

"Do you know their ages?" Elizabeth inquired.

"The boy is 12 and the girl is 10."

"It will be nice to meet some new people, especially at the holidays. It must be hard for them to be moving right now."

"Maybe but I got the impression Mr. Weiss was excited to be making the move right now."

"I wonder how his wife feels about that, moving during the winter and so close to Christmas." Rosemary said. "Elizabeth! I have an idea. We should host a welcome party for the new family."

"That's a great idea. We can ask Abigail to help."

Elizabeth and Rosemary continued talking about their party while Jack and Lee discussed things around the town. The group of friends enjoyed their time together until both the expectant mothers began yawning and the evening broke up.

On the Saturday before Christmas, Lee was at the mercantile getting some supplies when Mr. Yost handed him a telegram. It was from Mr. Weiss saying his family had stopped in Cape Fullerton and would be arriving some time Sunday. The telegram had been sent on Friday. Lee wondered why his new employee would not be arriving until Sunday when Cape Fullerton was less than a day's ride from Hope Valley. He wondered if they had a problem with their wagon or something.

As he left the store he saw Rosemary and Elizabeth walking towards him. They must be coming to get what they need for the welcome party. "Good Morning, Ladies." He walked over to his wife and gave her a kiss. "How are you feeling, Rosie?"

"I feel great, Lee." She smiled at him. He had a big over protective thing going on too, much like Jack. "We came by to get some things for our party."

"Funny you should mention the party. I just received a telegram from Mr. Weiss. They are arriving tomorrow."

"Oh my goodness!" Rosemary exclaimed. "We have so much to do then. Elizabeth, would you mind going to the café and letting Abigail know? We need to get started on the baking. I will go and pick up the things on our list."

"Of course." Elizabeth replied as she spotted a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. She looked over and sure enough, Jack was walking towards her. She walked away to meet him while Rosemary went into the mercantile with Lee at her heals. "Hi, Jack!" She said as she approached him.

"Hi, Sweetheart! How do you feel this morning?"

"I feel great, Jack."

"What are you doing in town?"

Elizabeth shook her head at him. "Jack, I told you last night that I was going to be helping Rosemary with the party."

"I remember but you didn't say you would be in town. I thought you were at Rosemary's."

"Well, we did start there but Rosemary realized we needed some things from the mercantile. It was a good thing we came to town too because Lee just got a telegram from Mr. Weiss. They are arriving tomorrow. I'm on my way to the café to talk to Abigail. We need to start baking. Want to walk me over there?"

"Spend a few more minutes with my beautiful wife? Of course I will." He kissed her then put his arm around her waist as to the café.

Abigail was washing dishes when they walked into the café's back door. She turned around when she heard the door opening. "Hi Elizabeth and Jack. Would you like some tea?"

"I can't stay because I have rounds to do." Jack explained as he leaned down to kiss his wife. "Did you want to stay in town and then we can go home together?"

"Yes, Jack. We have plenty to do this afternoon." She kissed him goodbye then went to sit down at the table. Abigail was plating some muffins and scones. "We just heard the new family is arriving tomorrow."

"Ahh, so that's what you meant by having plenty to keep you busy in town. Where's Rosemary?"

"She is at the mercantile getting some things we had forgotten. She will be here shortly to help with the baking."

"Sounds like a plan. Let me get my recipe box and we can start deciding what we want to make."

"I vote for those shortbread cookies you make with the chocolate ganache. Also your blueberry scones."

Abigail agreed and wrote the suggestions down on her note pad. "We should make some sandwiches too, in case they get here in the early afternoon. I am making roast beef for dinner tonight. I can make sure to set some aside for the sandwiches. I can make some potato salad too."

"That sounds good." The ladies heard from behind them. They looked up to see Rosemary and Lee.

"Hello, Rosemary. Lee, let me show you were you can put that box." Abigail got up and Lee followed her.

After Lee had left, the women continued discussing the food for the party then got to work. Elizabeth and Rosemary helped Abigail with the lunch crowd in between working on the refreshments. By dinner time, all three were exhausted but pleased with what they had accomplished.

"Everything is all set." Abigail said as she surveyed the food. "Now we can spread the word tomorrow at church for people to stop by and say hello."

"We should get a good turn out." Rosemary commented. "I have been mentioning this to anyone I have run into this week."

Elizabeth and Abigail smiled at each other. This was so typical of Rosemary. The women put the food and supplies away for tomorrow. Elizabeth and Rosemary sat down at the table while Abigail tended to her cooking. The café would be opening soon for dinner.

"I'm so tired I don't think I want to cook dinner." Elizabeth remarked. "I am going to ask Jack if he minds eating here tonight."

"That sounds like a good idea, Elizabeth. I asked Lee to pick me up here. Maybe we can all sit together for dinner."

"That works for me." Elizabeth replied as the back door of the café opened. She looked over and saw Jack and Lee walk in together. "Look, Rosemary! Our men have arrived." She grinned at Jack as he came over to give her a kiss.

"Ok, what's with the grin?" Jack asked his wife.

"Can't a wife be happy to see her husband?"

"Yes but this seems more like you want something from me."

"Well, Rosemary and I are tired from prepping for the party so we were thinking we could all have dinner here tonight."

Jack and Lee looked at each other and smiled. "Is that all you ladies, want?"

"Yes." Elizabeth and Rosemary said at the same time.

"I think we can handle that, don't you, Lee?"

"You can stay in the kitchen and have dinner. I would love the company." Abigail told the couples.

"Of course." Jack told her.

Abigail put a plate of biscuits and a pitcher of iced tea on the table. "I have roast beef and chicken pot pie for dinner."

"I'll have the pot pie, please." Elizabeth told Abigail. "We are serving roast beef sandwiches tomorrow." The rest of the table agreed.

"Jack, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it, Lee?"

"The telegram from Mr. Weiss was sent yesterday from Cape Fullerton. It said he would be arriving tomorrow. Don't you think it's odd that it would take them that long to get here? Cape Fullerton is less than a day's ride from here."

"It is strange but maybe they had a problem with their wagon or maybe his wife or one of the children was sick."

"That's what I was thinking."

"Wait a minute." Elizabeth said. Jack and Lee turned to her. She had a pensive look on her face. "Their last name is Weiss and they stopped in Cape Fullerton yesterday arriving here tomorrow."

"Yes. Does that mean something, Elizabeth?" Jack inquired.

I am not sure. I had a friend when I was younger. Her name was Sara Kaplan. I would always invite to my Saturday birthday parties. She always declined. I didn't understand why because she always invited me to her parties which were on Sundays. One time I was over there and her grandmother was visiting. She introduced me, saying her grandmother's name was Rachel Weiss. While I was there that day I learned that Sara was Jewish. She finally told me that the reason she didn't come to my Saturday parties was because Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath."

The table sat in silence for a few minutes as they took in what Elizabeth said. Rosemary recovered first. "That makes perfect sense. I had an acquaintance in New York, another actress who was Jewish. She wouldn't work on Friday nights or Saturdays. I wasn't close to her so I don't really know anything about her religion."

"I'm saddened to say I don't know much about the Jewish religion either. Sara's family moved away not long after I meet her grandmother."

"What you said is certainly possible, Elizabeth. It would make sense as to why they aren't arriving today when they are only less than a day's ride from here."

"I could be wrong. It could be what you said. They had a problem with their wagon. We will find out tomorrow. I am very excited to meet them regardless of their religion. It's always nice to meet new people." Elizabeth said as Abigail placed their dinners on the table. The friends ate their dinner discussing their plans for the holidays and what their lives would be like in the New Year with the additions to their families.


	2. The New Family

Sunday morning dawned bright with warm temperatures. The town's people were buzzing about the new family that was arriving that day. When church ended everyone rushed to the café to wait for the welcome party to begin. Lee had sent a telegram back to Mr. Weiss asking him to stop at the café when they first arrive in town.

They had only been in the café for about 20 minutes when the front door opened and in walked a tall man followed by a woman and two children. Lee approached the man. "I'm Lee Coulter. Are you Mr. Weiss?" He extended his hand.

"Yes, I am Nathan Weiss. Please to meet you, Mr. Coulter."

"Call me Lee."

"If you will call me Nathan." He looked around the room at all the people.

"We wanted to welcome you and our family to Hope Valley, so we decided to have a party for you." Lee told him

Nathan smiled. "That is so nice of you. Thank you." He turned to his family. "This is my wife, Sara, my son Isaac and my daughter Leah."

Rosemary walked over to her husband as Nathan introduced his family. "Nathan, this in my wife, Rosemary."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Hope Valley." Rosemary extended her hand to Nathan, then to Sara.

Elizabeth and Jack approached the family. "I'm Constable Jack Thornton and this is my wife, Elizabeth. She is Hope Valley's school teacher."

Elizabeth stepped forward to talk to Mrs. Weiss about getting the children enrolled in school. She looked into the woman's face; there was something oddly familiar about her. Suddenly, childhood memories started coming back to her; she looked like she could be her friend Sara. "This is going to sound crazy to you, Mrs. Weiss but did you live in Hamilton as a girl?"

Sara Weiss had been looking at the school teacher in curiosity too. "Yes, I did. My maiden name is Kaplan."

"Oh my goodness! It is you. My maiden name is Thatcher." She moved closer to Sara.

"Oh, what a small world we live in. Who would have thought we would run into each other all these years later. Elizabeth!" Sara threw her arms around Elizabeth and the two women hugged and cried happy tears with the men standing nearby in shock.

When the women stopped hugging, Elizabeth took one of Sara's hands. "So you married someone with the same last name as your grandmother." They moved towards a quiet corner of the café to talk.

Sara laughed. "Yes I did but there is no relation. Your husband is quite handsome. How is it being a Mountie's wife? It must be frightening when he has to go out on assignment."

"Your husband is handsome too. I have been lucky when it comes to Jack's work. So far he has only had to leave on assignments a couple of times. When he does go, I worry but I handle it. It bothered me when we were first courting; I almost broke it off because I didn't think I could handle it if he died. Then I saw reason and realized I would much rather spend whatever time we have together with him than to live my life without him."

"There were never truer words spoken." Sara said, then reached over to hug Elizabeth again. "I still can't believe we are seeing each other again after all these years. We have so much to catch up on."

"We do. I would say come join me for tea here at the café after school but I am sure you will be too busy unpacking."

"I would love to join you. I will be needing a break at some point. School gets out when?"

"At three."

"That sounds great. I plan on bringing the children to school in the morning. If you wouldn't mind walking them here to the café I can have them sit at one of the tables to do homework while you and I talk."

"Great! School starts at 8:30."

"Perfect. We should go back to the party the town is so graciously throwing. It was so nice of you to do it."

"Hope Valley is a small town that likes to look out for each other. We felt it only fitting to welcome a new family to town."

"I think I am going to love it here. When we moved away from Hamilton, it was to a small town like this. After we got married, Nathan and I lived in Calgary. I didn't like it much; neither did Nathan for that matter because he is also from a small town but his job took him there. When Nathan found out about this job, we talked it over and he decided take it."

"I'm so glad you did." Elizabeth took Sara's hand as they walked back towards the rest of the party. "I just realized something. Don't you follow dietary laws?"

"Thank you for remembering that. We do, but mostly at home. When we eat out we are just careful not to eat certain things."

"We have roast beef sandwiches, potato salad and different desserts."

"Sounds delicious. I know the children will love the desserts."

Elizabeth and Sara walked back to the party arm in arm. Elizabeth led her friend to Abigail. "Sara, I'd like you to me my close friend and owner of this café, Abigail Stanton."

Abigail reached out her hand towards Sara and smiled. "Please to meet you, Sara."

Sara took Abigail's hand and shook it. "The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Stanton."

"Please call me Abigail. Would you like something to eat?"

"I would love something to eat. I heard there are roast beef sandwiches and potato salad for lunch."

"I will go get you a plate." Abigail squeezed Sara's hand once more then went to get the food.

"Abigail seems nice, Elizabeth."

"She is very nice. She is more than a friend to me; she is one of my sisters. She took me into her home after there was a fire at the school that left me homeless. I was just a stranger; she knew nothing about me and she still took me in. She has been there for me through everything."

"That is so nice. That sounds a little like how we were as young girls. I hope we can be that way again as women."

"And as mothers." Elizabeth whispered. "I'm pregnant."

Sara looked at her, surprised. Then she smiled and threw her arms around Elizabeth. "Oh Elizabeth! I'm so happy for you. You can't be very far along."

"I'm not. I just found out a couple of weeks ago." Elizabeth replied just Leah ran over to her mother with Emily close behind. They hugged Sara and Elizabeth respectively.

"Mama." Leah looked up into her mother's face. "This is Emily. She is so nice. She wants to be my friend and she said Mrs. Thornton is a great teacher. Can I start school tomorrow?"

"It's "May" I start school tomorrow and yes, my plan is to bring you and your brother to school tomorrow." She leaned down to kiss her daughter's head. "Leah, I'd like you to meet Mrs. Thornton. She and I were friends when we were your age."

Elizabeth bent down until she was eye level with Leah. "It's nice to meet you, Leah. I am looking forward to you and your brother coming to school tomorrow."

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Thornton." The young girl grinned. "I love school." Then she and Emily ran off to go talk to some of the other students.

"She's adorable." Elizabeth told Sara.

"She is but she is also a handful." Abigail returned to them with two plates. "Thank you, Abigail." Sara reached for her plate.

Elizabeth took hers and looked around the café. She spotted Jack sitting at a table with Nathan. They were deep in conversation about something. "Looks like our men are getting to know each other. Shall we go join them?"

"I would love to." They walked to the table.

Jack noticed them approach first and he stood up. He took Elizabeth's plate from her and set it on the table, then gave her a kiss before he pulled out her chair. "Hi, Sweetheart. I missed you." He whispered in her ear.

Nathan had just pushed in Sara's chair and he kissed her cheek. "They remind me of us when we were first married. Actually they remind me of us now too."

Sara smiled at him. "They do, don't they?" Nathan sat down next to her and started to eat his sandwich. The two couples ate their lunch getting to know each other, with the Weiss children running up to them every once in a while.

A couple of hours later as the party was breaking up and people went home, Jack went with Nathan to the wagon while Elizabeth walked with Sara to their house with Isaac and Leah running alongside them. The Weiss' would be moving into one of the row houses. "I think you will like the row house. I bought one before Jack and I got engaged. Once he proposed we talked about where we wanted to live. He wanted to build a house for us but it would take a while to build and we wanted to get married right away. So we lived in my house for the first few months after the wedding."

"Where do you live now?"

"Our house is through the trees behind the school. It's just a short walk away from the school."

"That's convenient for you. I can't wait to see it."

"Once you get settled in your home, we will have you all over for dinner."

"We would love that." Sara said as they approached the wagon. Jack and Nathan were already beginning to unload it. Sara, Elizabeth and the children grabbed some things too and before long, all the Weiss belongings were in their home. Jack and Elizabeth said goodbyes to the family, knowing they wanted to get some of their things unpacked and settle in for the night.

Jack pulled Elizabeth's arm through the crook of his arm as they walked home. "That certainly was something that Mrs. Weiss turned out to be your childhood friend." He kissed her cheek.

"I couldn't believe it, Jack. I never expected to see her again and now she is here in Hope Valley."

"I'm happy for you. I look forward to getting to her and Nathan. I mentioned having the family over for dinner sometime soon."

Elizabeth laughed. "I said the same thing to Sara." Elizabeth shivered and moved closer to Jack, wanting to feel his warmth.

Jack noticed her shiver and put his arm around her. He quickened his pace so they could get home faster. Soon they were approaching their home. Once inside, Jack went to build a fire while Elizabeth went to change into her nightgown. Jack came into the bedroom to change his clothes then they went back to the living room to snuggle by the fire together.

"Sara is going to bring the children to school in the morning." Elizabeth told Jack.

"That's good. It's better to get them started right away and into a routine."

"After school she is going to meet me at Abigail's. We are going to catch up some more." She took his hand in hers and brought it to her lips. She could feel him smiling at the gesture. "I told her about the baby."

"I figured you did."

"What did you and Nathan talk about today?"

"He was very interesting in my life as a Mountie. He told me he used to pretend he was a Mountie when he was a little boy. We also talked about how amazing it was that you and Sara knew each as girls and ended up moving to the same town years later."

"It is amazing." Elizabeth agreed, then she yawned. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I am getting so tired. I think the excitement of the day plus being newly pregnant is making me more tired than usual."

Jack stood up, then gathered Elizabeth in his arms. "Then we should go to bed. Morning comes really fast."

Elizabeth rested her head on Jack's shoulder. "It does but I can't wait for tomorrow. Having Isaac and Leah join my class then meeting Sara after school. I'm so excited."

"I can tell." Jack replied as he put her down on her feet, then pushed back the covers, allowing Elizabeth to get in. He walked to his side and joined her. He reached over to caress her face then leaned in to kiss her goodnight. "I love you, Sweetheart."

"I love you too, Honey." Elizabeth settled on to her side and felt Jack wrapped his arms around her. Soon, Elizabeth was asleep, dreaming about her childhood with Sara and what good times they might have in the future.


End file.
